Matthew Jones

About a month ago I was lucky enough to be selected to present one of my talks at CodeMash in Sandusky, Ohio. This was the second year I'd presented at this conference, and it was just as amazing as the first time.

The session that was selected was about taking a synchronous ASP.NET Core application and refactoring it to use a fully-asynchronous codebase. Along the way we talked about the goals of asynchronous programming, including when to use it and when it might be difficult to do so. The talk was called "Hold Up, Wait a Minute, Let Me Put Some Async In It".

(No, I'm not sorry for that title.)

I had a FANTASTIC time at this conference, and an even better one doing this talk. And now, thanks to a partnership between CodeMash and Pluralsight, you can see this talk yourself, from the comfort of your own chair! Click the bookmark below to watch the talk.

I've already watched it myself, and let me tell you, it is a difficult thing to watch yourself talk for an hour. You start picking out all the little things you could've done better, could've said more clearly, could've explained a little more thoroughly. But, on the whole, I'm proud of how this talk went, of how engaged my audience appeared to be. I think this talk went about as well as it could have.

But I wasn't the only talk recorded. In all, Pluralsight recorded a whopping 93 courses from CodeMash. They're all excellent, and you can check them out here:

I want to point out two talks that I personally attended that I believe will be well worth your time to watch.

First, Technical Leadership 101 by John Rouda was the talk that spoke to me the most during the entire conference. I've been a lead developer for around 5 years now, and am constantly looking to improve my leadership skills. If you're in any kind of leadership position at your organization, check his talk out!

Second, The Immutable Laws of Software and Life by Cory House was the most entertaining and insightful talk I've personally seen in years. His style is effortless, and what I want my style to be when I grow up. Check out his talk here:

If you're ever in the Sandusky area, CodeMash is well worth your time and money to attend. Who knows, you might even see me there next year!

Please feel free to leave any constructive criticism, comments, or general questions about my talk in the comments below. You might also want to check out my past posts on asynchronous coding, particularly the Ultimate Guide to Async/Await.